US: NAIAS attendance tops 800,000

For the first time since 2003 and buoyed by a strong final day, attendance at this year’s North American International Auto Show climbed above 800,000 visitors.

The total ticketed attendance of the 2014 show was 803,451. That included the 102,153 who braved snowy, slick roads to visit the final day of the show. The last time the show broke the 800,000-visitor mark was 2003, when 838,066 visitors came through the doors.

“This was a special show, and everyone knew it,” NAIAS Chairman Bob Shuman said in a news release. “The industry is healthy, the products and technology are spectacular, and confidence is high. It would be difficult to find a more exciting or more important two weeks than what we just experienced in the auto industry here on Detroit’s world stage.”

The show’s leaders estimated a total economic impact of $365 million from the show. 5,169 journalists from 60 countries and 39 states went to the press preview days. More than 34,000 suppliers, designers, engineers and others in the industry from 28 countries were at the show. 13,826 went to the Charity Preview, which raised $4.8 million for children’s charities.